Montana News

Earlier this week, federal wildlife officials announced they've crafted a new plan to restore the highly endangered black-footed ferret that includes re-introducing the animal to more states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan calls for boosting their numbers to about 3-thousand animals.

In this feature interview with Edward O'Brien, Fish and Wildlife Service Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Coordinator, Pete Gober, says a key element of this plan is to make it as non-threatening as possible to draw in more partners.

Shopping, cooking, tying up loose ends at work, family coming in… the list of holiday prep goes on. Joyce Billmayer of Conrad Floral in the Flathead has found a way to make a traditionally slower season busy by helping people one of those things off their list: holiday decorating.

Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye catches up with Billmayer as she preps to put the finishing touches on a home all-dolled-up for the holidays.

Santa has a lot of helpers getting those Christmas gifts to their destination, including Dave Shappee.

This is one of the busiest months of the year for the founder of The Shipping Depot in Missoula. And he's still busy today, as last minute shoppers rush to ship their Christmas presents on the eve of the holiday.

In this feature interview, Shappee talks with News Director Sally Mauk about the unique items people try to ship - and about their procrastination this year.

We recently told you that Sunburst Middle School recently won a $20-thousand-dollar technology grant. The prize was part of a national project by Samsung to raise student interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Kim Bloch is a teacher in the school's gifted and talented program. Sunburst is a Class C school situated along north-central Montana's border with Canada; not far from the Port of Sweetgrass.

An undocumented Mexican immigrant who says he was raped while in custody at the Jefferson County Jail is waiting to see if his case will be heard in court before he is deported. Meanwhile, the alleged incident is calling into question how the jail ensures the safety of prisoners.

Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices this week issued a ruling accusing a sitting Republican state lawmaker of illegally coordinating with a “dark money” group during his 2010 campaign, an accusation the lawmaker denies.

Among the Montanans hoping to make it to the Sochi Olympics this winter is Bozeman native and reigning national freestyle mogul ski champion, Heather McPhie.

It would be McPhie's second Olympics - she placed 18th in Vancouver in 2010. This year's team will be picked in January.

McPhie is back in Bozeman for the holidays after competing in a World Cup event in Finland. The 29-year-old took time out from her training to speak with News Director Sally Mauk about her skiing career. It's a sport that's in her blood - beginning with her great grandfather.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the non-partisan, not-for-profit Trust for America's Health released a report this week showing most of the nation is not adequately prepared to handle outbreaks of infectious disease. The Outbreaks: Protecting Americans from Infectious Diseases report finds the nation's ability to prevent and control outbreaks of infectious disease is hampered by limited resources and outdated infrastructure.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are stepping up to fill a transportation gap between the Flathead, Mission, and Missoula Valleys. Transit Section Superintendent David Jacobs with the Montana Department of Transportation says Rimrock Stages was handling bus service from Missoula to Kalispell.

He said it was shut down by the Federal Motor Carriers Service Administration for non-compliance last March. He said the MDOT was waiting to see if Rimrock Stages would come back into compliance.

“My dad started with one cow 35 years ago, they loved the animal, and we grew to 200 head, because of the animal, and so, I like people to understand that we sell the milk to keep the cows- it’s not the other way around,” Mary Tuck is Vice President and owner of Kalispell Kreamery.

It’s the last of the Flathead dairy farms in an area that used to boast more than forty. Kalispell Kreamery evolved from her family dairy farm; Hedstrom Dairy.

The financial crash of 2008 brought increased scrutiny and louder calls for reform of the financial industry. Some of that has come to pass, but it's also true the financial sector continues to have tremendous influence over government, which is its chief regulator.

As financial policy advocate for the consumer advocacy group "Public Citizen", Bart Naylor tracks that regulation and lobbies for stricter oversight of a financial industry he believes has too much power.

As we told you earlier this week, at least 43 Montana public officials recently signed a letter supporting actions within the President's National Climate Action plan to address climate change. Some of those actions include adopting pollution controls, investment in renewable energy research and development and creation of climate adaptation strategies. Democratic state representative Doug Coffin, of Missoula, is one of those to sign the letter. Coffin is a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Montana.

This Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut that took the lives of 20 six and seven-year-olds - and 6 of the school's adult staff.

Last week we aired an interview with UM forestry professor Martin Nie, about the resurgence of a western movement to get federal lands turned over to state and local governments - and why he thinks that's a bad idea. In this feature interview, News Director Sally Mauk talks with one of the leaders of the new Sagebrush Rebellion - Utah state representative, and CEO of the American Lands Council, Ken Ivory - about why he thinks state ownership of federal lands is a good idea.

(Update{12/12/13}: Last week's winter storm in the Northeast kept the Weather Channel busy and this episode of "Freaks of Nature" was preempted for live coverage. It now airs this Sunday -12/15/13- at 8:00 p-m, MST.)

While our bitter cold spell is delaying today's scheduled opening of Missoula's Snowbowl ski area, tomorrow's big FCS playoff football game between the University of Montana Grizzlies and Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will go on as scheduled.

The temperature at kickoff could be below zero, with an even more frigid wind chill.

One of the leading historians of 19th century America is in Missoula to speak at the University of Montana. James Oakes teaches history at the City University of New York, and has written several award-winning books on the Civil War and slavery.

In this feature interview, Oakes talks with News Director Sally Mauk about the debate over whether the Civil War was fought over preserving the Union - or over slavery. Oakes says it most definitely was fought to end slavery.

Attorney General Tim Fox’s office said Tuesday a group of candidates have been nominated for the board of a new healthcare foundation created following the sale of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana to an out-of-state company.

A University of Montana professor of forest entomology and pathology says this prolonged and uncomfortable deep freeze probably won't be enough to kill Mountain Pine Beetles.

The rice grain-sized beetles are a native species that mass-attack trees. U-M College of Forestry and Conservation's Dr. Diana Six says hundreds or thousands of the insects can swarm a single tree, leaving it defenseless and essentially doomed.